Lesson: Knowing God’s majesty should produce appropriate knowledge of God and ourselves leading to a full embrace of His majestic care for His people.
Three Rebukes:
- Wrong thoughts about God
•“To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? Says the Holy One” (40:25)
“Our thoughts of God are not great enough; we fail to reckon with the reality of His limitless wisdom and power.”
•We must learn to think that God is not like us.
•We must learn to acknowledge the full majesty of His unequal glory.
Your thoughts of God are too human.”
~ Luther to Erasmus
“These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself…” ~ Psalms 50:21 ESV
2. Wrong thoughts about ourselves
•“Why sayest thou, O Jacob speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD and my judgment is passed away from my God?” (40:27)
•We must learn not to accuse God of forgetting, overlooking, or losing interest in, the state and needs of His own people.
•We must be ashamed if we think that God has abandoned us.
•To be pessimistic about the Majestic One’s constant care for His people is to dishonor our Great God and Savior.
“God never abandoned us any more than he abandoned Job. He never abandons anyone on whom He has set His love; nor does Christ, the good shepherd lose track of His sheep.”- J.I. Packer
““Since God keeps every part of the world under his authority, it is impossible that he shall forsake his Church.” – John Calvin
3. Slowness to believe in God’s majesty
•“Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? (40:28)
“What is the trouble? Have you been imagining that I, the Creator have grown old and tired? Has nobody ever told you the truth about Me?”
•We must accept the truthfulness of this rebuke, “How slow are we to believe in God as God, sovereign, all-seeing and almighty!”
•We must learn to meditate on His majesty, we need to wait upon the LORD!
“…nothing will hinder God from continuing to exercise his kindness; for he is not like men whose resources are exhausted by giving frequently, or who are wearied by continually bestowing new favors, or who repent of their generosity. His kindness is never exhausted.” – John Calvin
Questions for meditation:
- Why do you think humans are prone to think that God is just like us?
- What do you think is/are the antidote against our tendency to think lightly of God’s majesty?
Note: This is from our Youth Bible Study. Most of the notes are from Packer, J. I. (1993). Knowing God. Intervarsity Press.
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